


Begin Again

by Cumberbatch Critter (ivelostmyspectacles)



Series: Fe!MC/Ryuji named their son Goro and this is their story [22]
Category: Persona 5
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, Fe!MC, Genderswap, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-11
Updated: 2018-03-11
Packaged: 2019-03-29 20:45:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 979
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13935063
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ivelostmyspectacles/pseuds/Cumberbatch%20Critter
Summary: When their son comes home after a fight, Akira is reminded of both her and Ryuji's pasts.references to past abuse/trauma





	Begin Again

**Author's Note:**

> Back at it again for Pan Pan~ :3c

“Goro– what the hell?!”

“It’s fine.”

“It’s not _fine,_ let me see.”

“I’m _fine,_ mom.”

“Who did this?”

Goro squirmed out of Akira’s reach, squinting made necessity through the black eye he was sporting. “No one. Nothing.”

“Hold it!” Ryuji was _angry._ Well, she understood the feeling. “Did you at least fight back?”

“Ryuji!” Akira shot him a glance.

“I’m just asking!”

“Yeah,” Goro muttered.

“Good.”

“Who did this?” Akira interrupted firmly, pressing the pack of ice against one of the bruises. “We’ll talk to the school–”

“No! Jeez.” Goro grabbed the pack. “I’m fine, really. I’ll be in my room.” He ducked out of both his parent’s grasps and headed down the hallway, leaving both Ryuji and Akira standing in the kitchen with varying amounts of stress on their faces.

“… I’ll go talk to the school,” Ryuji said shortly.

“We don’t even know who did it…”

“I’ll talk to them anyway.”

“I…” Akira sighed, pushing her hair out of her face. Looking back at the doorway, she thought she was more frazzled than even _Goro_ was. “I think I’ll stay… in case he needs me. Or wants me. Just in case.”

“Right.” He nodded once and started away for the door. “I got this. They won’t be beating up on _my_ son next time.”

“Hopefully there won’t be beating up _anyone_ next time,” Akira said softly, but Ryuji was already halfway out the door, and she didn’t stop him.

 

 

“So, uh, you’ve been quiet.”

Akira glanced up as she hung up her robe, even though there was no one else Ryuji could even be talking to. “Oh?”

“Don’t ‘oh’ me, man, you know you have. Since Goro came home with those bruises the other day.” He braced his hands back on the mattress. “They already figured it out, you know. Who did it and everything. And I’m gonna teach him some real self defense and shit so he knows to protect himself. Which… it shouldn’t have happened in the first place, but…”

Akira huffed out a breath, annoyance and upset in turns. No, it _shouldn’t have,_ and she still hadn’t been able to get the whole story from Goro. “It’s just… I don’t want him to go through like what I did,” she said quietly. “I guess it just reminded me of all those bruises I had, back when… all of this started.”

“Ohhh… oh, Akira, you– you should have said, I wasn’t even thinkin–”

“I mean, it’s _definitely_ not the same, thank God.” She shrugged a little. “I guess it just… I don’t want things to be like that for him. Not when I went through… not what _you_ went through, either.” She startled a little when arms settled around her waist, and then turned her face back as Ryuji’s chin settled on her shoulder. She smiled, and hoped it was convincing. “I’m fine, Ryuji, really.”

“Is that what the nightmares have been about?”

That made her cringe, inwardly at the very least. She hadn’t noticed that _he’d_ noticed.

“I wasn’t gonna say anything,” Ryuji said. “Figured if you wanted to talk about it, you would.”

“It’s…” She shrugged again. “It just reminded me. It’s not important.”

“It is,” he countered. “Trauma’s a damn weird thing. Then you get all this PTSD shit and remember everything at the worst times? Or the stupidest times? I know.” His arms tightened around her waist. “God I know.”

She smiled faintly. “It’s not important–”

“Bullshit.”

Okay, maybe it wasn’t _not important._ Akira sighed quietly, turning around to rest her hands against his chest. “I’m alright. It’s alright. I know it’s not the same, like, it’s like with us when we were taken advantage of by people with power.”

Arms back around her waist. “Yeah, but it still sucks. He hasn’t even said what it was about– though I can guess,” Ryuji muttered.

“Ryuji…”

“Not talking about me right now,” he interrupted, and grinned briefly. “But we’ll make sure that doesn’t happen with him, right? Not gonna let that happen. No matter who.”

“I know.”

“And I’m not gonna let that happen to _you_ again, either.” Ryuji pecked a kiss against her forehead. “Got it? Ain’t nobody touching my girl.”

It felt like it hadn’t been nearly decade ago, honestly, and funny how easily it was for things from the days as the Thieves could still affect her. Or maybe not, because of _course_ it still did. It had been one of the most pivotal moments of her life. Or all of their lives.

Ryuji’s reassurance was comforting, though. And cute, she thought, turning her head into his neck to hide her smile. He always could make her smile at the worst of times.

“Nobody but me,” he continued, and swept her off her feet to clumsily– spin her around, she guessed, although he didn’t exactly accomplish it. It made her laugh anyway, cling onto his neck and shoulders and laugh into his shirt.

“Ryuji!”

He was smiling too as they both settled back on the bed, although Akira pretended that she didn’t notice the hesitancy in his eyes, too. So it wasn’t only her, even if he was trying to cheer her up. “We won’t let that happen,” she said softly, curling up against his chest.

“Nah. Won’t let him suffer the same stuff we did.” Ryuji wrapped his arms around her again. “We did all that fighting so everyone could breathe a little easier, yeah? Us included. You included.”

Akira hummed, closing her eyes. “Yeah.” She was always going to be safe here, with the friends that she had, the life she led now. No one from her past could touch her the way that they had before. And they wouldn’t touch her son, either. She’d make damn sure of it. “All of us,” she agreed lightly, and let Ryuji’s warmth chase away the lingering chill of the past.


End file.
